| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tao Teh King by Lao-tze: Good fortune will be found.
Employ it the kingdom o'er,
And men thrive all around.
3. In this way the effect will be seen in the person, by the
observation of different cases; in the family; in the neighbourhood;
in the state; and in the kingdom.
4. How do I know that this effect is sure to hold thus all under the
sky? By this (method of observation).
55. 1. He who has in himself abundantly the attributes (of the Tao) is
like an infant. Poisonous insects will not sting him; fierce beasts
will not seize him; birds of prey will not strike him.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lesser Hippias by Plato: ones, say the Protagoras or Phaedrus with the Laws. Or who can be expected
to think in the same manner during a period of authorship extending over
above fifty years, in an age of great intellectual activity, as well as of
political and literary transition? Certainly not Plato, whose earlier
writings are separated from his later ones by as wide an interval of
philosophical speculation as that which separates his later writings from
Aristotle.
The dialogues which have been translated in the first Appendix, and which
appear to have the next claim to genuineness among the Platonic writings,
are the Lesser Hippias, the Menexenus or Funeral Oration, the First
Alcibiades. Of these, the Lesser Hippias and the Funeral Oration are cited
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Little Britain by Washington Irving: occasional feud between the burial societies, yet these were but
transient clouds, and soon passed away. The neighbors met
with good-will, parted with a shake of the hand, and never
abused each other except behind their backs.
I could give rare descriptions of snug junketing parties at
which I have been present; where we played at All-fours, Pope-
Joan, Tome-come-tickle-me, and other choice old games; and
where we sometimes had a good old English country dance to
the tune of Sir Roger de Coverley. Once a year, also, the
neighbors would gather together, and go on a gypsy party to
Epping Forest. It would have done any man's heart good to
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The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson by Robert Louis Stevenson: weather-beaten, Fergussonian youth, looking forward through the
clouds to the sunburst; and now clean gone from my path, silent -
well, well. This has been a strange awakening. Last night, when I
was alone in the house, with the window open on the lovely still
night, I could have sworn he was in the room with me; I could show
you the spot; and, what was very curious, I heard his rich
laughter, a thing I had not called to mind for I know not how long.
I see his coral waistcoat studs that he wore the first time he
dined in my house; I see his attitude, leaning back a little,
already with something of a portly air, and laughing internally.
How I admired him! And now in the West Kirk.
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